Hi
After what felt like a pretty steep learning curve to get up on track with developing for the WP Block Editor in the last few weeks, this week it finally started to come together. I made some progress on a client site and also learned a ton, even though the whole React/Redux stuff is still not in my comfort zone, it starts to feel a little bit more familiar to work with. Maybe I’ll write up some of my experiences in a separate post.
Frontend Development
📐 Combined CSS-aspect-ratio-grid
Working with images with different aspect-ratios and placing them in a grid can be tricky and was often something we had to use JavaScript for in the past. But not so, anymore. Nils Binder shows how to do it with modern CSS like aspect-ratio and flex-box.
9elements – Building a combined CSS-aspect-ratio-grid
🖋 Try various Variable Fonts
This site lets you try out various variable fonts and play around with their settings. Check out the new Roboto Flex, the amount of variables it lets you adjust is crazy.
WordPress
💸 Should WP plugins lock users out when their license expires?
There was an interesting discussion going on last week. MemberPress, a popular plugin to build Membership websites, decided to lock the admin screens completely for its users, after their license expired. This, together with the overall communication, left a bit of an aftertaste and a lot of people expressed their displeasure with this decision. But some, like Lesley of NewsletterGlue, also made some good points on why she has some understanding. You find the lively discussion under this tweet, as well as on reddit.
As a plugin developer of a premium plugin myself, I can totally understand the thinking behind a decision like this, we even discussed to introduce something similar ourselves. I’m somewhat torn between thinking it should be just normal that you have to pay for a product you actively use and me liking the old WP-way of only paying for updates and support, but still be able to use a plugin after its license expires.
In the end, I think there is a lot of middle-ground between giving away too much for free and rendering a plugin completely unusable. And a lot of it also comes down to communication and transparency.
WPTavern – MemberPress Plugin Is Locking Users Out After Support License Expires
Other / Random
🤔 Would I do it tomorrow?
An Idea to keep in mind for next time you need to make a decision about something that lies someday in the future.
Austin Kleon – Would I do it tomorrow?
✈️ How is Felix today?
Felix Krause has been collecting various stats about his life for a few years, which he displays on this nice little site. I really like this idea of seeing everything from your mood, what you eat and do, over time but I always felt like the work to collect it is overkill. He built a telegram bot though, to make this part easier, which sounds pretty practical.
✌️ Have a nice weekend!